The third phase of a decommissioning process will set the direction for social rehabilitation of some 14,000 combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (MILF-BIAF)
Speaking for Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Al-Hadj Murad Ebrahim, Education Minister Mohaguer Iqbal, said: “Admittedly, the discussions over decommissioning were not easy because the stakes are very high and they are very emotional also. In addition to putting weapons beyond use, the combatants’ well-being, livelihood, and security, and families, and communities are paramount,”
Iqbal, also a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament and chairperson of the MILF Peace Implementing Panel, said the process of decommissioning is a “critical component of normalization.”
Undersecretary David Diciano, chair of the GPH Peace Implementing Panel, said the decommissioning of MILF combatants helped strengthen and sustain the gains of the Bangsamoro peace process.
Lawyer Laisa Masuhud Alamia, also a member of Parliament and co-chair of the Task Force for Decommissioned Combatants and their Families (TFDCC), said that from rendering the firearms beyond use, the decommissioning of combatants is a continuing process, including restoration of normal life into the mainstream society. Nash B. Maulana